Peter from Double Helix Cables tore apart his new Lightning connector as soon as it arrived, to investigate what’s inside and why Apple charges $35 for the product.

Peter claims that the adapter is “beautifully manufactured,” and “isn’t going to be modded by anyone anytime soon.”

“To access the contacts for the audio output to somehow hack a cable to this and make a dock audio output cable would require a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and specialized tools,” he says.

The adapter contains several chips in order to allow Lightning devices to work with 30-pin connector accessories.

“The chips look unfamiliar, but with the same metal finish and some have lasered text,” Peter says. “They all appear to be custom and trying to figure out what does what is fruitless. I really took this apart for the DIY community to ascertain if the DAC [digital-to-analog converter] in this thin is actually good, but it’s quite unclear.”

“Nobody would balk at paying $35 for this after they see what’s inside, though,” he added.

One Chinese company claims to have successfully cloned Apple’s Lightning cable, and has produced its own third-party cable this week. Plus, it glows!